Israel Innovation 2.0

During the week of August 8, 2010, it was revealed that SupersonicAds, an internet company that has developed a virtual goods monetization platform, has raised $2 million. The round was led by former Skype CEO Michael van Swaaij. Qoof launched a platform-independent video advertising app and OpTier launched the first educational business transaction management portal. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Ernst & Young: Israeli Government Must Pick Up CleanTech Glove

2. Is Desalination The Answer

Investment
3. Clean Tech Dominates Q2 Funding at $130M

4. Former Skype CEO leads $2M investment in online games offer firm SupersonicAds

Information Technology
5. Qoof Launches Platform-Independent In-Video Advertising App Technology

6. OpTier Launches First Educational Business Transaction Management Portal

Miscellaneous
7. Israel aims to be space superpower

8. Exclusive: PM set to okay space R&D program

During the week of August 1, 2010, DroidSecurity revealed that its Android security app has been downloaded by 2.5 million users. Ad targeting company eXelate announced it raised $15 million and Israel’s first tidal plant was completed in Jaffa. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Israel’s First Tidal Power Plant Completed In Jaffa

2. Israeli-Palestinian team for clean water

3. As It Shrinks, the Dead Sea Nourishes Promises of an Economic Bloom

Investment
4. eXelate Secures $15M; Educates Consumers On Ad Targeting

5. ScaleMP Experiences Record Growth in Q2

Information Technology
6. Dapper Dives Into The Display DR Dream

7. DroidSecurity Hits 2.5M Milestone

Miscellaneous
8. Business Strategy, Israeli female entrepreneurs and Facebook IPO rumors

During the week of July 25, 2010, web security firm Commtouch acquired Authentium’s antivirus unit. The sale is likely to be the first of several Commtouch will make in the upcoming months and next few years. Israel’s VoIP site ooVoo is gaining ground on rival and market leader Skype and issues Israel’s government and tech industry need to discuss continue to be brought to light. For these stories and the rest of this week’s headlines, see below.

Cleantech
1. Green hi-rise to hit Tel Aviv

2. 8 Ways Israel and China Intersect in Clean Energy

Investment and Economy
3. Israel tries to lure major banks to expand its R&D

4. IBM buys Storwize for $140 million

Information Technology
5. ooVoo vs. Skype: Tech firm gaining ground on larger rival

6. AT&T, Amdocs launch Israel innovation center

7. Commtouch Security Platform Boosted by Acquisition

Miscellaneous
8. Start-Down: Israeli Start-ups in crisis

9. ‘Sniffing’ Technology Helps Disabled Move, Communicate

During the week of July 18, 2010, Amdocs and AT&T launched a new development center. Israeli scientists claim that they can increase computer memory capabilities using protein from poplar trees and the Jerusalem Post implemented SemantiNet’s Headup application on its website. The app lets visitors discover new content and enables the Jerusalem Post to automatically generate a comprehensive web resource on Israel and the Middle East. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. 4 Israeli Car Technologies Volkswagen Should Buy

2. The History of Clean Tech Business Between Texas and Israel

Investment and Economy
3. Ten Takeaways from Deloitte’s 2010 Israel VC Indicator Survey

4. Colo. accords with Israel could generate jobs

Information Technology
5. Amdocs, AT&T launch Israel center

6. Red Hat SPICE protocol advances but release could be a year away

7. Israeli Scientists Increase Computer Memory Capabilities

8. What SemantiNet’s Headup application means for the JPost and other publishers

Miscellaneous
9. The real pillars of the Israeli economy

10. The Hummus Manifesto – Part 1

11. The Hummus Manifesto – Part 2

During the week of July 11, 2010, Fring, a mobile VoIP network that lets users make video calls over 3G and other things, unveiled its new app for the iPhone 4 and set off a heated debate with Skype. Motorized bicycling is taking off in Israel and Conduit is continuing to report big numbers. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Israel is catching on to motorized bikes as the next best urban solution

2. MST becomes 1st Israeli technology firm to connect to grid

3. BGU receives first US – Israel energy independence grant for light water reactor research

Investment
4. Vocaltec shares shoot up 150% after merger agreement with magicJack maker Ymax

5. Ormat Tech raising NIS 600m in unrated bonds

Information Technology
6. Self-healing software is on its way

7. Fring Unveils 3G Video Calls

8. Conduit Reports Big Numbers: 250,000 App Publishers, 170 Million Users

9. Tufin Technologies Wins International Stevie(R) Award in Seventh Annual International Business Awards(SM)

10. Promisec: Securing Networks from Within

Miscellaneous
11. Modu 1 modular phone hits UK, touchscreen Modu T to come: Android Modu-like?

12. Record number of tourists visit Israel

During the week of July 4, 2010, Venrock, the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, raised $350 million. The Silicon Valley-based fund has invested in several Israeli companies over the years including Check Point, Bhive Ltd., P-cube, and Imperva. IBM Israel and the EU will be partnering open source and cloud technologies to improve the efficiency of EU governments and Amdocs and OpTier are partnering to make OpTier’s business transaction management (BTM) more widely available. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Evogene Castor Oil Demonstrates Suitability as Biojet Feedstock

2. TaKaDu has VCs buzzing about smart water monitoring

Investment and Economy
3. Venrock showcases VC trend, raises small $350M fund

4. Crisis Shmisis: Q2 2010 Closes with 40 deals and more than $400 million raised in Israel (Deal Summary)

5. Soho OS Lands $1M, Opens Business Management Suite To All Small Businesses

Information Technology
6. IBM, EU partner on open source projects

7. Amdocs Teams Up with OpTier

8. MiniFrame Introduces New SoftXpand Product for the Consumer Market

Miscellaneous
9. Palestinians, Israelis Come Together Through Entrepreneurship

10. Empeeric To Unleash Social Media Box For Sites

11. Israeli Army Takes EBay as Inspiration to Cut Inventory Waste

12. State of Israel? There’s an app for that

During the past week, Emblaze announced that it is ending its production and marketing of the First Else. First Else was intended to be the first Linux-based smartphone device offered by wireless carriers but Emblaze couldn’t find a partner that met its demands. Meanwhile, IDB invested NIS 8 million in the Jewish-Arab incubator NGT and BrightSource Energy’s planned solar plant in the Mojave Desert is expected to be the world’s most efficient. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Israeli IDE gets 2nd contract with China power plant

2. Is Ivanpah the World’s Most Efficient Solar Plant?

3. Photovoltaic Power Plants in Israel – a reality?

Investment
4. IDB to invest NIS 8M in Jewish-Arab incubator

5. Israeli Group Signs Tech Investment Deal With Chinese City

Information Technology
6. RIP: Emblaze kills First Else

7. Cotendo Selected as 2010 Red Herring North America Top 100 Winner

8. Web startups tap into brainpower (Fixya)

9. Intel may use Comsys to boost handset comeback

Miscellaneous
10. SanDisk CEO Eli Harari proves he’s no flash in the pan

11. Best Places to Work Academia 2010

During the week of June 20, 2010, Vringo announced the pricing of its IPO. Motorola’s latest Android phone, Droid X, comes with Swype, a finger-tracing text-entry, and Israeli business continue to look to the East for opportunities. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Potato Batteries May Power The Future

2. New Wind Venture Seen as Bridge of Peace Across the Green Line

Investment and Economy
3. Israeli businesses look East to offset weak Western markets

4. Vringo, Inc. Announces Pricing of $11,003,200 Initial Public Offering

Information Technology
5. Swype looks beyond Droid X to the iPhone

6. MiniFrame Leverages DisplayLink Technology for Efficient Multi-User Computing

7. Internet whizzes recruited to IDF intelligence unit

8. Perfecto Mobile Receives Funding from Vodafone Ventures to Expand Its Mobile Handsets and Applications Testing Business

Miscellaneous
9. Computer program that detects depression in bloggers’ texts

10. comScore Reports Top 20 Web Properties in Israel

11. Israeli IT Can Help With U.S. Health Reform

During the week of June 13th, news broke that IBM is in talks to buy Israel’s Storwize. A professor has found a way to develop potato batteries that can provide cheap power and collaboration between high-tech companies in Israel and India is expected to increase. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Israel a Model for Alternative Energy

2. Israeli-developed boiled potato batteries may provide cheap power

Investments and Economy
3. Israel Economy Grows 3.6% in First Quarter on Exports (Update2)

4. Israeli, Indian high-tech industries to collaborate

5. IBM negotiating purchase of Israeli startup

Information Technology
6. Anobit breaks MLC flash barrier

7. Fighting PC Delays, Hourglass by Hourglass (Soluto)

8. 9 Israel-Based Female Tech Entrepreneurs on Twitter

9. Emblaze rubbishes Else rumours

Miscellaneous
10. More gender equality at Israeli workplaces than rest of OECD, study shows

11. The best company to work for in Israel is American

12. Playing games on Microsoft’s Kinect is a blast (hands-on videos)

13. Israel high-tech billionaire gives millions to make lecturers nicer

During the week of June 6, 2010, Tigo Energy announced it raised $10 million to expand international sales and manufacturing capabilities. Check Point acquired Liquid Machines and Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz debuted at the annual High-Tech Industry Association Conference an extensive plan to help Israel’s high-tech sector. For these stories and more, see this week’s headlines below.

Cleantech
1. Ormat Set to Release Alaska’s Geothermal Energy Potential

2. Businesses ink deal with Israeli incubator

3. Tigo Energy Closes $10 Million Round

Investments
4. Check Point buys Liquid Machines

5. Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Plans New Index For High-Tech Startups CEO

6. Steinitz unveils broad plan to help Israeli high-tech

Information Technology
7. Trusteer’s week of wins

8. Motion-activated controls come to Android

Miscellaneous
9. New center for Internet study at Haifa U

10. The Next Big Things

11. Microsoft’s Hopes Lay in Israel (h/t Joel Katz)